Spot the burnout before its turnover: Empathetic HR leadership w/ Stacie Baird

In this episode of Pulse by HRBench, we sit down with Stacie Baird, Chief People Officer at Community Medical Services, to talk about the early warning signs of burnout, and what HR can do before it turns into turnover.

With over 30 years of experience in high-growth, PE-backed organizations, Stacie shares how CMS has built a proactive strategy around burnout, engagement, and retention. 

Reducing turnover by 27% in the process.

You’ll learn:

• What burnout looks like in HR

• How to use pulse surveys to track burnout symptoms in real time

• What “vicarious trauma” means and how to create space for recovery

• Why CMS built a “Good Job Score” to align values with engagement

• How to use data and empathy to influence the C-suite

Episode chapters:

• 00:00 | Welcome to the live episode with Stacie Baird
• 01:27 | Meet Stacie: 30 years in HR, trauma-informed, PE-backed leader
• 03:57 | What burnout looks like in HR teams and how to spot it
• 06:03 | Understanding vicarious trauma and emotional load in HR
• 09:36 | Creating space for recovery in high-pressure environments
• 12:18 | Using pulse surveys to measure burnout symptoms in real time
• 14:48 | Role-based engagement data and tagging events to track impact
• 17:00 | The “Good Job Score”: Aligning values, leadership, and feedback
• 20:06 | CMS’s turnover pilot: Identifying early exits and fixing onboarding gaps
• 24:42 | Real-time dashboards + data stories during exec meetings
• 27:58 | How to communicate data with empathy and influence leadership
• 32:21 | Self-regulation and care for HR leaders: “You can’t pour from an empty cup”
• 33:03 | Getting higher participation in engagement surveys
• 34:34 | Communication strategy across 80 locations
• 37:04 | Predictive analytics at CMS and building trust in the data
• 38:31 | Final thoughts + why CMS calls HRBench their top vendor

If you’re an HR leader trying to stay ahead of burnout, disengagement, and early exit, tune into this episode.

🔗 Connect with Stacie Baird: https://www.linkedin.com/in/staciebaird/

🔗 Check out the HX Podcast: https://staciebaird.com/the-hx-podcast
🔗 Learn more at: hrbench.com